Right-to-die group heads for sentencing in woman’s suicide

Published 10:05 am Monday, August 24, 2015

HASTINGS — A national right-to-die group is due to be sentenced for its involvement in a Minnesota woman’s suicide in 2007.

Final Exit Network was convicted of assisting the suicide of 57-year-old Doreen Dunn, plus a lesser charge of interfering with a death scene. The group faces a maximum fine of $33,000 in a sentencing hearing scheduled for Monday morning in Dakota County court.

Dunn lived with chronic pain for a decade before she took her own life. Prosecutors argued Final Exit Network provided Dunn with a “blueprint” to kill herself via helium asphyxiation.

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The defense maintained the group did nothing illegal and ensures its work stays within constitutionally protected speech.